Costumes made/modeled by Yaya between 1999 - now.

Sakizou style Princess White Rose - Saga Frontier

Why I chose to make this costume:

This is one of the 2 new costumes I made for Dragoncon 2013! Princess White Rose has been on my to make list for a few years. I was just going to make the classic version but when I found out that Sakizou did illustrations from the game, I flipped out! Her interpretation of the costume and character design was so beautiful, I just had to make the Sakizou version!!

How I made this costume:

I started collecting materials back in June when I went to LA for the Face/Off episode filming! In all the watercolor illus, the colors are different so I chose creme/pink/green. I sourced the flowers in bulk which helped with the cost, and bought dupioni silk in the 3 colors, a ton of gorgeous trims, as well as the fabric for my train. Back in Atlanta, I bought more roses from hobby shops, dyes, and organza in matching colors.
I fabricated this costume in August, between getting super sick and missing Otakon, rescuing Arya the kitten, and the Barbados trip. It's completely therapeutic and ZEN for me to sew and do hand-beading, dyeing, and gluing. I really had a great time working on this costume, as it embodies all the different costume elements that I love!

The corset is lined with coutil and has steel boning inside. I made the outer layer and embellished it as much as I wanted, then sewed it to the sturdy strong lining. I made a short hoopskirt using this handy tutotial because the weight of the flowers on the outer skirt needed extra support to poof up. The flower skirt is simply a lined and finished circle skirt with roses glued aaaaaalll over it. The fabric roses stuck incredibly well to the silk, and hot glue was all I needed! Then came the tedious multiple days of making ruffles O_O. I serged strips of fabric together for a nice edge finish, then pleated some, while gathering others for lots of ruffles. I sewed them to a butt flap (LOL) which also had the train attached.

When I was happy with how the skirt and ruffle train looked, I worked on the flower collar piece. That beast took a bit engineering... I made the base with 16 gauge wire and covered it with fleece and a strong tulle, so there was something I could glue the petals to. I made the petals the same way I did the trim on CC from Code Geass - with my soldering iron! I just cut a half circle pattern in poster board and traced around it on the organza fabric with the soldering iron, which sealed the edges! Normally organza frays like crazy and I wanted the petals to be delicate and one layered, so burning the edges was a perfect solution to my needs.I made a million cut outs and gathered the bottom edges to make them into petals, then glued then onto the collar base to make it look like a flower fan collar.

Afterwards, I worked on the sleeves and choker, and spent a good day hand stitching trims and pearls onto all the pieces. I also made single layer organza ruffles to match the rest of the costume for the sleeves and choker, all with the soldering iron and gathering stitch. The last pieces I made were the rose hat, golden lilies wand, and the boots, which I entirely butchered and put back together O_o. The pearls on the hat are real, my mom got me a ton of pearls in China a couple of years ago and I finally used them! My two-tone hose are from www.welovecolors.com

My wig was kindly sponsored by Gothic Lolita Wigs! It's one of their ringlet wigs in auburn and was so lush and thick! It was absolutely perfect for this costume. In the game, White Rose has brunette hair, but my costume is based on watercolor artwork and is all pastels, so a black wig would have been too harsh against all the colors. The auburn was great!!

Thoughts on this costume:

I feel so flouncy in this costume!! It has elements of so many things I love. I wanna make more Sakizou outfits!

About Yaya

Yaya Han® is one of only few cosplayers in the world to build a business in this hobby-ist community, but even after a decade of success, she strives to stay true to what got her into this field originally - fun and creativity. To this day, Yaya has made a myriad of costumes in the genres of anime, manga, video games, sci-fi, comic books and of course from her own original designs. Her intricate and lavish creations have won awards and acclaim worldwide, and she has been invited to appear as a Guest, Panelist, Judge, Performer and Host to hundreds conventions and other events all over the globe.